NSA can follow nearly everything you do online in real-time

In a report on VentureBeat Edward Snowden's latest relevations uncover that the NSA can basically see nearly everything you do online. This is getting a PR nightmare for the USA. According to the whistleblower, the XKeyscore program enables the NSA to wiretap anyone, almost instantly. They can also see your real-time Internet activity, read your e-mail, monitor your Facebook, and get your IP address by searching for visitors to any specified site.

wiretap anyone, almost instantly, as long as it has their email address

see your real-time Internet activity

read anyone’s email

monitor Facebook chats

see “nearly everything” you do online

get your IP address by searching for visitors to any specified site

The NSA program that does this is called XKeyscore, and it’s a massive big data collection, warehousing, and analysis program that, if we can believe what Snowden is saying, basically lays bare your entire digital self. Essentially, we’re Frodo and Sam, and the NSA is the Eye of Sauron — but more effective, more powerful.

The question is whether or not we can believe him. Those are big, big accusations.

The evidence that Snowden provided to The Guardian is compelling: vast quantities of screenshots that show training materials and actual applications that the NSA has built to enable armchair James Bonds, AKA intelligence analysts, to sort and sift through a vast database of 850 billion events and 150 billion Internet records, with 20+ terabytes being added daily:

There are only two ways the NSA could amass such huge amounts of unencrypted data: by intercepting everything at the ISP level and decrypting in almost-real time any HTTPS or otherwise encrypted transmissions, or by having backdoors in dozens if not thousands of companies’ systems to access data on a regular and continuous basis.

Companies like Google have completely and categorically denied those allegations, saying that “There is no free-for-all, no direct access, no indirect access, no back door, no drop box.”

In a statement to the Guardian, the NSA denied that XKeyscore was accessible to all analysts and said that it was a “lawful foreign signals intelligence collection system,” but did not deny any of the capabilities Snowden claims it has. And the NSA, which has said that 300 terrorists were captured via XKeyscore as of 2008, defended the value of the program.

#4631983 Posted on: 08/04/2013 11:21 PM
Spying has been here for hundreds of years and I doubt that many guys reading guru3d are really surprised by all the news about USA spying on everybody. So are other countries. The sad thing is, that this time it's US of A - the great DEMOCRACY the PEACEMAKER who is in the spotlight. And it's good. People should realize that these guys don't give a $..t about anyone as far as they are getting their money and oil. Funny thing about it is that before all this came up, it was the USA pointing finger at the Chinese and everybody around for cyberattacks and cyberspying. And these guys were probably just defending themselves...

Also for those stating that they are not bothered by this because they do nothing wrong and thus are OK. Think again whether you can trust a government that has access to everything. Who says that they can't just point a finger at a random person and "create" suspicious activity that will deem him as a terrorist and then they will just get rid of this person.What if this person will be your friend, family member or even you? What then?
There is no real freedom in the world anymore.Specially if you are living in north america. Well maybe in some amazon rainforests and parts of africa.

#4632008 Posted on: 08/04/2013 11:58 PM
Way to miss the point! What he's saying is that there is no more expected right to privacy on the internet than there is walking down the street. The internet is just as public as the street.

The reason you can't yell fire in a public building (when their is no fire) has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion. That is a discussion refering to freedom of speech, not any right to privacy issues.

On topic: I don't agree that the everything on the internet is as public as walking down the street. My posts here are public for all to see. My emails should be granted the same privacy as the US postal service, though. Cell phone calls should be granted the same privacy rights as landlines are. All of these things should require a warrant before they can be used against you in a court of law.

There are exceptions to illegal search and seizure laws though where public safety is concerned. For example, you don't need to grant someone access to a lawyer before questioning if you have reason to believe that the person could have time sensitive information that would effect public safety. Example, He knows where a bomb threat is. You don't need to wait for his lawyer to arrive before you ask him where the bomb is. If he tells you and you go there and disarm it, the information he gave you to find it is perfectly admissible as evidence against him.

This is a war. Not a typical war, but intelligence on your enemy needs to be gathered. What the NSA is doing is necessary today. What we need to worry about is that we don't permanently surrender freedom so that in the future, when it might not be necessary to gather this information for the public's safety, we can remove this and restore our pre 9/11 freedoms. Allowing that to happen by itself would be a victory for the terrorists.

re: Snowden, He's a traitor. He's right where he belongs bouncing between countries where he'll never know the freedoms he had ever again. I hope he likes China and Russia and spends the rest of his life there. He doesn't deserve to live in the US.

I'm sorry, but anything that violates anyone's privacy unwillingly is against one's constitutional rights, regardless of whatever rationalization you try to throw at it. We're not just farm animals that need to be looked over, watched and prodded when we're doing something that is frowned upon. We're people with our own ambitions and our own thoughts. We should not surrender our privacy for any reason, nor should we lose our freedom. Our government should be transparent to the people, allow us to see what's going on and allow us to make the changes. Our forefathers would be absolutely ashamed of what has become of our government. The government wasn't instituted to control us, it was instituted FOR us. We (the populace) should have the ability to collectively dictate what happens in our government and how things are being run and we simply do not have that ability. Our large government is demolishing our dollar, our freedoms, our privacy, and our lives as a whole. Honestly, it can't continue down the path it is because it's only going to get worse.

Snowden isn't a traitor, he's a damned hero for giving us this information. Let's not forget that Obama promised governmental transparency and thanks to Snowden, we now have a little bit of an insight of what our government is up to.

I don't care how you look at it, but in the end, what they're doing is against our rights. We don't need to sacrifice our freedom or our constitution to "fight" terrorism, regardless of what you want to believe. That's just naive thinking at its finest.

China being the most populating county in the world. Also the fact that 95% of world countries all relay on oil and gas.

Relayer
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#4632030 Posted on: 08/05/2013 01:15 AMI'm sorry, but anything that violates anyone's privacy unwillingly is against one's constitutional rights, regardless of whatever rationalization you try to throw at it.
This is overly simplistic and, therefore, not true. Anything that violate's anyone's privacy is not necessarily against the constitution. There are provisions that allow for them to do specifically that. You need to tell me specifically what points you are accusing me of rationalizing.

We're not just farm animals that need to be looked over, watched and prodded when we're doing something that is frowned upon. We're people with our own ambitions and our own thoughts.
Nice speech. I never said we were farm animals, etc...

We should not surrender our privacy for any reason,
Throughout our short history, we have sacrificed privacy in the time of war. This is nothing new.

nor should we lose our freedom.
Agree 100%, but sacrificing and losing are 2 different things. We have often been asked to make sacrifices to protect or freedom.

Our government should be transparent to the people, allow us to see what's going on and allow us to make the changes.
I Agree. Just watch out for the sheeple being mislead en mass allowing for extremism taking control.

Our forefathers would be absolutely ashamed of what has become of our government. The government wasn't instituted to control us, it was instituted FOR us. We (the populace) should have the ability to collectively dictate what happens in our government and how things are being run and we simply do not have that ability. Our large government is demolishing our dollar, our freedoms, our privacy, and our lives as a whole. Honestly, it can't continue down the path it is because it's only going to get worse.
All spot on. Our forefathers wouldn't be ashamed, they'd be rightfully PO'd! You are blaming all of the woes of the country on the NSA though?

Snowden isn't a traitor, he's a damned hero for giving us this information.
Sorry, but I just completely disagree. Snowden is a traiter and giving info to that scum Assange isn't going to help anything except Assange. I hope Snowden stays in exile forever and Assange is stuck in his self imposed prison in England. They are both cowards who claim to have all of these convictions and then run away when they are forced to fight. They are the ones who decided to address the situations the way they have. There are other avenues they could have taken that wouldn't of landed them in the situations they are in. They made their own beds and now they are laying in them.

Let's not forget that Obama promised governmental transparency
Obama is a blatant liar. Has been all along. The only thing he's ever told the truth about is that he would dramatically raise the price of oil and increase government handouts. Again, let's not lump everything on the NSA situation, though.

and thanks to Snowden, we now have a little bit of an insight of what our government is up to.
You honestly didn't know the government was doing this? Where have you been? This has been going on since 9/11.

I don't care how you look at it, but in the end, what they're doing is against our rights. We don't need to sacrifice our freedom or our constitution to "fight" terrorism, regardless of what you want to believe. That's just naive thinking at its finest.
Actually, I'm not the one being naive. If the government uses information they gather here against the general population outside the context it is intended for, ie The War on Terror, that is something different and I will agree with you. Simply gathering the information is not effecting anyone's freedom.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there's nothing to be concerned about. There does need to be transparency with government and people do need to know what they are up to. We need to know that innocent citizens aren't knowingly and without regard suffering because of the government's actions. The fact that they monitor everything to uncover and prevent terrorist activity and plots is in no way a revelation to me though.

I'm way more concerned with the possibility that the IRS was used to intimidate Republican supporters prior to the presidential election. Or that we are continuing to supply military aid to a military that just overthrew the democratically elected government in Egypt.

Akhkaru
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#4632070 Posted on: 08/05/2013 03:27 AM
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there's nothing to be concerned about. There does need to be transparency with government and people do need to know what they are up to. We need to know that innocent citizens aren't knowingly and without regard suffering because of the government's actions. The fact that they monitor everything to uncover and prevent terrorist activity and plots is in no way a revelation to me though.

I'm way more concerned with the possibility that the IRS was used to intimidate Republican supporters prior to the presidential election. Or that we are continuing to supply military aid to a military that just overthrew the democratically elected government in Egypt.

Now, I'm not trying to start an argument by any means, just a friendly debate.

I'm not laying blame solely on the NSA, I never said that once. The NSA is a government agency, and that government is what I'm referring to. It's my firm belief that our military shouldn't be anywhere in times where we're not needed. Everything that has brought us to this war in the middle east was because of our military and political presence in other countries.

However, I can't see how you could label Snowden as a traitor. The only thing he has done was tell us that our government (the NSA, more accurately) has been quite capable of spying on us and are collecting data on US citizens as well as foreign people. Now, it's debatable on what data they're accessing, but in the end it's about their ability to just find out everything about who you are in a search and a few clicks. I'm sorry, but I don't support that by any means, regardless if we're at war (which was VERY much avoidable) or not.

THAT is breaching our constitutional rights. Our 4th amendment is effectively worthless in this day and age where congress votes in almost whatever law is beneficial to their interests.

This is overly simplistic and, therefore, not true. Anything that violate's anyone's privacy is not necessarily against the constitution. There are provisions that allow for them to do specifically that. You need to tell me specifically what points you are accusing me of rationalizing.

How is it untrue? There are not provisions in the constitution that allows them unwarranted seizure of one's property (data), nor are they allowed to an unwarranted search (what you've been looking up on google, etc.), so I don't quite understand what you're trying to say. There are newly passed laws that allow such activity, however, they directly bypass the 4th amendment. It seems people confuse laws with the constitution.

Relayer
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Posts: 25
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#4632078 Posted on: 08/05/2013 04:04 AM
Now, I'm not trying to start an argument by any means, just a friendly debate.

I'm not laying blame solely on the NSA, I never said that once. The NSA is a government agency, and that government is what I'm referring to. It's my firm belief that our military shouldn't be anywhere in times where we're not needed. Everything that has brought us to this war in the middle east was because of our military and political presence in other countries.

However, I can't see how you could label Snowden as a traitor. The only thing he has done was tell us that our government (the NSA, more accurately) has been quite capable of spying on us and are collecting data on US citizens as well as foreign people. Now, it's debatable on what data they're accessing, but in the end it's about their ability to just find out everything about who you are in a search and a few clicks. I'm sorry, but I don't support that by any means, regardless if we're at war (which was VERY much avoidable) or not.

THAT is breaching our constitutional rights. Our 4th amendment is effectively worthless in this day and age where congress votes in almost whatever law is beneficial to their interests.

How is it untrue? There are not provisions in the constitution that allows them unwarranted seizure of one's property (data), nor are they allowed to an unwarranted search (what you've been looking up on google, etc.), so I don't quite understand what you're trying to say. There are newly passed laws that allow such activity, however, they directly bypass the 4th amendment. It seems people confuse laws with the constitution.

Not trying to argue either.

It could be argued that anything that is transmitted on the internet comes under the "plain view" allowance of the 4th. It's different if they have to hack email accts., wiretap phones, etc... Simply intercepting information and viewing it though, could easily be considered out in plain view for them to see. The information doesn't have to be discovered by accident. There are other exclusions to the 4th as well. Searches at an airport, for example. so, it's not just all encompassing with no exceptions.

Loobyluggs
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#4632080 Posted on: 08/05/2013 04:08 AM

...Searches at an airport, for example....

Isn't that because of the "international ground" type-of-thing, and has it's own jurisdiction as part of international treaties and agreements and what-nots?

Like if you are a certain distance off shore and therefore in international water, you can gamble, shoot guns, get monkeys to do a knife fight etc.

Swear airports have this, but I stand to be corrected.

Relayer
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#4632087 Posted on: 08/05/2013 04:47 AM
Isn't that because of the "international ground" type-of-thing, and has it's own jurisdiction as part of international treaties and agreements and what-nots?

Like if you are a certain distance off shore and therefore in international water, you can gamble, shoot guns, get monkeys to do a knife fight etc.

Swear airports have this, but I stand to be corrected.

No, it has nothing to do with whether it's an international airport or not.